I frequently want to share Windows network paths to files with other folks on my team via email or chat. We have a lot of mapped drives here, both ones we set up ourselves and ones set up by our IT overlords. What I'd like to be able to do is to copy the full real path (not the drive letter) from Windows Explorer to send to folks.

Example: I have a file in my "Q:" drive, \\cartman\users\emueller, and I want to send a link to the file foo.doc therein to coworkers. When I copy the file path (shift+right click, "copy as path") it gets the file name "Q:\foo.doc" in the clipboard. This is unhelpful to others, who would need to see \\cartman\users\emueller\foo.doc to be able to consume the link.

In Explorer it clearly knows the full path - in the address bar I see "Computer -> emueller (\\cartman\users) (Q:) ->". Is there a way to say "hey man copy that path as text with the \\cartman\users\emueller not the Q: in it?"

I know I could just set up mapped network locations instead of the mapped drives for the ones that I set up personally and avoid this problem, but most of the mapped drives like the "users" share come from our corporate IT policy and can't be overridden. I could just make a separate network location and then ignore my Q: drive but that's inconvenient (and they do it so they can move accounts across servers). Sure my emailed path might eventually break because I'm losing the drive letter indirection but that's OK with me.

If you're running in a locked down corporate environment where you cannot install any third party applications and/or access the registry, then this solution will work ... superuser.com/a/704374/46099
–
RichardFeb 11 '14 at 11:52

13 Answers
13

I had exactly the same problem -- not everyone had the same mapped drives as me, or mapped to the same letters.

After much searching I found a context menu extension named Path Copy Copy on CodePlex (http://pathcopycopy.codeplex.com/) which is an extended version of a similar, older extension (called Pathcopy) has quite a few options for copying paths as text, including one for UNC paths -- example of the options available are shown below:

You can also choose to show only one or two lines on the base context menu, for example you can have two lines, Copy Long Path, and Copy Long UNC Path. It's great for emailing users in your company who have access to a network path, and if they have the same network mapping as you, you can choose the former, otherwise you can use the latter.

I just had the need for the same thing OP is asking and after searching on Google and reading the answers, none of them provided what I think the OP and I are looking for.

The problem here is that one may map a network share to Drive Y whereas someone else in the organization may have the same network share mapped as Drive X; therefore, sending a link such as Y:\mydirectory may not work for anyone else except me.

As the OP explains, Explorer does show the actual path in the Explorer bar, but you cannot copy it (typing is tedious and prone to errors, so this is not an option) even if you choose copy as path from the context menu:

So the solution I came up with (by copying someone else's code) was a little C# program that you can call from a context menu in Explorer and will allow you to translate the Mapped drive letter to the actual UNC path.

Here's the code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace Utils
{
//This is the only piece of code I wrote
class Program
{
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Takes the parameter from the command line. Since this will
//be called from the context menu, the context menu will pass it
//via %1 (see registry instructions below)
if (args.Length == 1)
{
Clipboard.SetText(Pathing.GetUNCPath(args[0]));
}
else
{
//This is so you can assign a shortcut to the program and be able to
//Call it pressing the shortcut you assign. The program will take
//whatever string is in the Clipboard and convert it to the UNC path
//For example, you can do "Copy as Path" and then press the shortcut you
//assigned to this program. You can then press ctrl-v and it will
//contain the UNC path
Clipboard.SetText(Pathing.GetUNCPath(Clipboard.GetText()));
}
}
}
}

And here's the Pathing class definition (I'll try to find the actual source as I can't remember where I found it):

Here's the workaround I use when sending mapped-network paths via Outlook:

In Windows Explorer, hold the shift button down, r-click on the file, and select "Copy as path".

Insert a Hyperlink in the email and paste in the address field of the Hyperlink dialogue box. (Shortcut: ctrl-Kctrl-V + OK). At this point, the link will display the mapped drive letter as the root (Q:\foo.doc).

Now, r-click and select "Edit Hyperlink..." you will notice that the Address field has been translated back into the full UNC path (\\cartman\users\emueller\foo.doc). With your mouse in the Address field, hit ctrl-A and ctrl-C to copy the full path to your clipboard, then move your cursor to the top field ("Text to Display:") hit ctrl-A and ctrl-V to display it correctly in your email.

Someone named Shawn Keene provided a solution to this in the Windows 7 Forum on the Microsoft website. It is in a feature called Network Place.

Open Windows Explorer.

Right-click on the Computer entry in the left pane and select “Add a network location”. Click next.

Select the “Choose a custom network location” option (it was the only one presented to me) and click Next.

Type in the UNC path desired and click Next twice.
This adds an entry that shows up in left pane of Windows Explorer below the mapped drives, but it works just like a mapped drive and shows up that way in the Save dialog of applications.

In Windows Explorer, navigate through that entry to the desired sub-directory and click in the blank area to the right of the bread crumbs path display in the top of the Windows Explorer screen and the UNC path appears and is highlighted.

Hey, thanks for chiming in. I know about this, that's what I meant by "I could just set up mapped network locations instead of the mapped drives" in the question - it's that many of them come to me as mapped drives courtesy my IT department, and I'd like to be able to link those. But that's definitely a possible solution to some of the problem!
–
Ernest MuellerFeb 18 '11 at 14:24

In corporate networks most IT Departments create shares using DFS Name Spaces, within DFS Shares you can right click on a folder and find its target.

The other method would be to see if the Share is published into Active Directory. The easiest way for other users to find shares without knowing the UNC path or File Server name / path.

If your sharing documents with large number of users, something like Microsoft SharePoint may be a better solution as offers a web interface (with WebDAV for UNC style access) and offers built in tools to alert other users to documents.

When I right click on my folders I don't see a "find target" option - what to you mean exactly? I mean, I can see the real path, it's not a mystery, I just want to be able to cut and past it and not type. As for Sharepoint, $50k in software isn't my ideal answer to "but can't I just cut and paste a path..."
–
Ernest MuellerFeb 14 '11 at 17:39

Save this in your sendto folder, mine is in
C:\Documents and Settings\xxxxID\SendTo
with a name like Copy UNC Filepath.vbs (must end .vbs)
Now when you right click on a folder or file it will copy the UNC to the clipboard. Our personal folder is the F drive and so it doesn't convert either c: or F:

'send UNC filepath to clipboard when selected file is input as Send To
Set objIE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
objIE.Navigate("about:blank")

myPath=Wscript.Arguments(0)
drive = Left(myPath,2)

if drive = "C:" OR drive = "\" OR drive = "F:" then
'leave unchanged
else
Set oWSN = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set oDrives = oWSN.EnumNetworkDrives
For i = 0 to oDrives.Count - 1 Step 2
If oDrives.Item(i) = drive Then
sUNC = LCase(oDrives.Item(i+1))
exit For
end if
Next
myPath=sUNC & Mid(myPath, 3)
end if